Imagine you are at work and you receive a urgent call from your child’s school. The principal advises you that your child was involved in an altercation with another student, the other student suffered injuries and you need to come pick up your child immediately. Baffled, and more than a little concerned, you immediately shut down your work computer, advise your staff you will be gone for the rest of the day and rush over to your child’s school. Once you arrive at the school, the principal refuses to discuss the matter with you other than to advise you that the school will be in touch with you. In the car on the way home, and in tears, your child tells you more about the situation. Another child pushed her during the break between classes, she pushed the child back, and then a school police officer separated the two of them. The principal as well as the school resource officer immediately interviewed both your daughter and the other student without any other adults present. After the investigation was completed, your daughter was told that her mother would be coming to the school to pick her up.
The Changes in The Nature of School Disciplinary Proceedings in Recent Years
School discipline has changed since the time that today’s parents were children. In the wake of campus shootings and other violent incidents, many schools across the country, including in Florida, have changed the way that student discipline is handled. Many schools have adopted zero tolerance policies or now routinely impose strict, mandatory punishments for violence, drugs, and other misconduct. To enforce these and other prohibitions, more schools rely on school resource officers (local police assigned full time to patrol campuses) to handle discipline problems—including not-so-serious misconduct that used to be the responsibility of teachers or principals. As a parent, this new system of school justice and discipline likely leaves you wondering exactly what can you do to protect your child from unfair school disciplinary proceedings. Are school officials permitted to interview your child without you, your spouse or some other adult present on your child’s behalf like an attorney present? What exactly are your child’s rights when it comes to school disciplinary proceedings before discipline has been meted out and a decision made to suspend or expel your child?
Taking Affirmative Steps to Protect Your Child From Unfair School Disciplinary Proceedings
Although many parents may not realize it, neither school administrators or police are required to inform parents or children before questioning a child about any alleged misconduct at school; however, a child is permitted to have a parent or an attorney present if the child or her parents would like to do so. This is unlike in the criminal justice system for adults, where someone arrested on suspicion of having committed a crime is not permitted to be interrogated by police unless the person first is read their Miranda rights and chooses to waive their right to the presence of an attorney. In this scenario, a principal or school resource officer can simply question a child without ever advising the child or her parents that the child is entitled to the presence of a parent or an attorney at the interview.
Florida Child’s right to representation in school:
Educate Your Child on Their Rights
It is important to educate your child that he or she should call a parent prior to being questioned by a school administrator or security officer; it is always important that either you as the parent or a representative of your child attend any such interview. A suspension or expulsion can become a permanent mark on your child’s educational record that can hurt their academic progress as well as potentially affect their chances of getting into college. Interviews of the students involved in an incident are often the deciding factor in a school administrator or school resource officer’s decision as to whether to move forward in the school disciplinary process. In a situation that could affect your child’s future, it is essential to make sure that you take advantage of every protection available. Therefore, if there is any chance your child will be disciplined for an incident in which they were involved, you should ensure they have representation of some sort at any interview. Doing so will ensure your child’s rights are protected and make sure that the machinery of school justice works fairly for your child.
Contact Experienced West Palm Beach Juvenile Defense Attorney if Your Child Is Subject to Disciplinary Proceedings at School
Experienced West Palm Beach juvenile defense attorney Bryan M. Raymond of the Law Office of Bryan Raymond has represented dozens of parents and their children in interviews with school administrators or police regarding potential school disciplinary proceedings. If your child has been involved in an incident at school and you are worried about the collateral consequences of those proceedings as well as any interviews requested by school administration, then call experienced juvenile defense attorney Bryan Raymond today at (561) 682-1115 or [email protected]. Bryan can walk you through the process, your child’s rights and why it is important to make sure that your child has representation at any interview he or she may have, whether it is a parent or an attorney.
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